jOHN HUNYADI BETwEEN BELGRADE AND CETATEA ... - Banatica

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fact Vlad (III) acted ‘on behalf’ of sultan Mehmed II (view pre-dominant in
Romanian historiography in the late 1800’ 3 ).
1. The Hunyadis and the walachian Loyalty of the House of Dracul in
the Mid 1450’
Critobulos, Chalcondylas, Tursun Bey, or kemal Pasha Zade, all
claim that that Vlad III took the throne with Ottoman support 4 . This however
may have applied only for his first short reign in 1448. Yet, none of these
Late Byzantine and Ottoman chronicles, which devote much space to the
walachian-Ottoman war of 1461-1462, even implied that Vlad III had been
hostile to the Porte prior to those years, which would have been the case if he
had been enthroned by Hunyadi in 1456 5 .
Basarab IV Ţepelus (the Little Impaler), wladislaw II’s cousin accused
the Saxons of Braşov (in late 1479) of sheltering a pro-Ottoman boyar faction
which had caused much damage to Christendom, and had helped enthrone
Vlad III and kill wladislaw II 6 (in 1475, Basarab IV had been the walachian
candidate of both the Saxons and Stephen III of Moldavia, who did not want
Vlad III the Imapler back on the throne). Only weeks prior to this letter, Basarab
IV had assisted the Ottomans on their unsuccessful Transylvanian campaign.
In return, the repertory of charges brought against this faction, covering more
than two decades, brought forth by him, perfectly suits walachian politics.
Vlad III of walachia in Buda and Transylvania after 1451
Regardless of interpretation, a credible analysis must begin in john
Hunyadi’s time. According namely to the various German drafts of the later
3 In particular Constantin A. Stoide, A doua domnie a lui Vlad Ţepeş. Luptele pentru
ocuparea tronului şi consolidarea domniei (1456-1458), in AIIA Iaşi, XXII, 1986, 1, p. 111-
130.
4 Laonic Chalcocondil, Expuneri istorice. Historiarum demonstrationes (ed. by Vasile Grecu),
Bucureşti, 1958, p. 283; Cristobul din Imbros, Din domnia lui Mahomed al II-lea (1451-1467
(ed. by V. Grecu ), Bucureşti, 1963, p. 290; Tursun Bey and Kemal Pasha Zade, in Cronici
turceşti privind ţările române. Extrase, I, Secolul XV-mijlocul secolului XVII (ed. by Mihail
Guboglu, Mustafa Mehmet), Bucureşti, 1966, p. 67, 198.
5 The same applies for western sources Al. Simon, Dracula in Hungary: Crusades, Estates
and Brides (1462-1476), in Annuario, X, 2008, forthcoming.
6 Ioan Bogdan, Documente privitoare la relaţiile Ţării Româneşti cu Braşovul şi Ungaria în
secolele XV şi XVI , Bucureşti, 1905, no. 121, p. 149-151 (henceforth: Documente Braşov).